Once Upon a Time; Stories That Inspire Children On The Road to Literacy.
Time is a precious commodity in education. The greatest benefit in learning retention comes with practice yet many parents miss the opportunity to play educational games with their children, the greatest of all being to read stories during their early formative years. At keen2learn we have a practical example of how story reading can be equally rewarding to both child and parent. Some years ago Shirley Clarkson lived with her family at Home Farm, now the base of www.keen2learn.co.uk. She would regularly read bedtime stories to her two young children. One of the favourites enticed Shirley to make a toy model of Paddington Bear to support the story scene. Based on the reaction from the children she was spurred on to manufacture and distribute the toy bears worldwide. Equally, one of the children listening to Mums’ stories was Jeremy Clarkson. It is conjecture but we’re convinced the reading games played between Shirley and “Top Gear” Jeremy had a significant hand in developing his vivid imagination and literacy skills.
It is concerning therefore that many parents fail to read to their children. The bedtime story encourages the imagination and develops a learning bond between children and parents that should last until at least GCSE. After that the lead in the process generally reverses! Encouragingly British forces have recently seized the opportunity and recorded CD’s of mothers and fathers reading stories for their children. Played during their absence overseas it has served to encourage children to listen to stories, as well as providing a reassuring link between children and their absent parents. Ideally we could all do with a little time management and spend more quality learning time with our children. Even the busiest parent should at least record some stories if they can’t make it home in time, you never know where it could lead to.
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